Hi everyone -

This has been briefly mentioned before, but I just wanted to give anyone that might have missed this info a heads up that we are now on Facebook! I'd love for all you guys - our users - to join us, and feel free to share images, or other TurboCAD-related stuff you might have.

In addition to the forum, this could be a great new platform to show off your designs (!), start discussions, etc. Facebook has, after all, become one of the most popular sites on the web.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TurboCAD/91855548825

(We also have an IMSI/Design page and a DoubleCAD page for anyone interested in these as well.)

ETA: To get everything in the same place, we are now also on LinkedIn (on request from users) - a brand new page as of Mid-March. Here is the link to this page as well:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2879315

Sofia

PS. We need about 25k users to get to AutoCAD's level on FB!

Hi everyone -

This has been briefly mentioned before, but I just wanted to give anyone that might have missed this info a heads up that we are now on Facebook! I'd love for all you guys - our users - to join us, and feel free to share images, or other TurboCAD-related stuff you might have.

In addition to the forum, this could be a great new platform to show off your designs (!), start discussions, etc. Facebook has, after all, become one of the most popular sites on the web.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TurboCAD/91855548825

(We also have an IMSI/Design page and a DoubleCAD page for anyone interested in these as well.)

Sofia

PS. We need about 25k users to get to AutoCAD's level!

How many do you have now?

Haha, just getting started, we have around 30, so to reach 25k is not anywhere in the near future as you can understand!

          I think the key is to turn more university students and professors interested in TurboCAD. As long as private professional educators give support to the software, more active facebook people will arrive.

                                              Jose 

          I think the key is to turn more university students and professors interested in TurboCAD. As long as private professional educators give support to the software, more active facebook people will arrive.

I'd agree with that.  Back in the 70s, National Semiconductor provided lots of databooks to electronic engineering schools around the country.  In the days before the Internet, that turned a lot of students into NatSemi-ordering engineers.

The main problem is that TurboCAD & AutoCAD already have student versions, so the task is to find some niche where TurboCAD can excel.  One area that comes to mind is 3D Animation.  As the technology matures, more and more low-budget productions are going to be made with lots of computer graphics providing scenes.  An current example of this is the show "Sanctuary" on SyFy.

Jeff

I agree with both of you that getting TurboCAD some more attention in the educational field would be a good way to increase its "follower-base". The product has actually not had a specific "student" version for quite some time, but it is my hopes that we will focus more on educational discounts in the future. That said, if anyone here is in the educational field, I'm sure we can help you get TurboCAD on the schedule!

I am just getting started with TurboCad due to the educational world.  Our professor has used it for years, designed his house's floorplans with it, and used it as a general CAD program.  So the electronics CAD class I am taking uses it to lay out schematics and PCBs (which I find odd coming from Eagle and geda... which have many electronics specific features), and also as a general introduction to CAD.  The industrial technology CAD classes use Solidworks at my school, which is a tool I've seen used in more offices, personally.

Anyways, our school just upgraded from v12 to V17, whereas I bought an old copy of v16 to save a few bucks (and when v18 comes out, I'll likely upgrade to v17, if I can do it for the same price).

I really do like turbocad, a lot is more intuitive than Autocad (which I took at my previous college), but I do miss having a command line :/

Anyways, I "liked" you on facebook!

Our professor has used it for years, designed his house's floorplans with it, and used it as a general CAD program.  So the electronics CAD class I am taking uses it to lay out schematics and PCBs...

I am an electronic engineer and I am more than a little curious how a PCB design in TurboCAD would actually be produced, as it doesn't have a Gerber-format output option.

Jeff

The symbols package included with the deluxe version has library parts for common CMOS and TTL chips, gates, etc.  There's also PCB layout symbols, such as DIP holes/pads, and all that.

I laid out a board for a checmical etch at home.  It's nowhere near an actual EDA software package...  No autorouter, no link between schematic and layout symbols (I did them as completely separate drawings)... but it is possible to design a schematic, lay it out, and etch it, using only TC for software.

If you're the type who doesn't want to learn new software, it's nice that it's there, but aside from my one expirament/excercise, not something I am going to revisit.

I am sure there's someone with a program to convert DXF or PDF or something to a single GERBER layer.  Now that Ruby is a scripting option, we may see native gerber output, but I am pretty disappointed that Ruby scripting isn't in the "affordable" range of Turbocad (deluxe or lower).

What's wrong with Turbocad Forum ?  Do Turbocad users really need Facebook to be serious about seeking views, problems, getting  advice, etc. on TURBOCAD. Turbocad Forum is the platform for doing this and an excellant job it is doing.

OK, I guess I have no clue,, I am on FB but how do I associate myself thru Turbocad to FB.

I don't understand the connection!!!

Please help...

I'll second Glenn G's point about the forum already doing a good job.  There's actually a disadvantage to the Facebook option: when information might be in either of two places, you have to look at both of them to find it.

Sorry to say this but, facebook is a negative step for TCad, going down the me too line is only going to open up users to the
face&$* self interest machine.

The day I go on face thing or any of these monsters, my nearest and dearest have a request that they shoot me.

A youtube or similar 'chanel would be a positive step and a place where tuts and user comments outside of the forum might be put to good use.  Always a drawer is youhootube.

Sorry, a bit of pun overdose.

NB.  face thing have a habit of 'extracting' user data so if you have any contacts who do NOT want face thing bothering them, please do not add their contact details.  It has taken me two years to get them to go away, and they have just started AGAIN...............

I've always thought that having a presence on Facebook was a good thing. I don't use Facebook, but see it as a billboard to advertise the TurboCAD name to the newer generation. I've never considered it to be in competition with this Forum. They already have a IMSIDesign Channel at YouTube.

Well, all I can say about Facebook is positive. I re-united with my high school best friend, who I am now married too. I also re-united with my step sister from my mothers last marriage. She came to my wedding & we keep in touch through FB, she & my wife have become close friends and we are going to visit her in Atlanta next month. I located an old friend that now also lives in the ATL, on Twitter. Social media has been a true blessing to me, but I dont use & abuse it like some do. I got my mother on FB & she uses it to keep in touch with old friends. It has been a good thing for me. I just figured I would post something about the social media from a different point of view.

          I think the key is to turn more university students and professors interested in TurboCAD. As long as private professional educators give support to the software, more active facebook people will arrive.

                                              Jose 

Well the trick that AutoCad used was  priracy.  They made their software easy to pirate.
 Back in the early 1980s there were two  main players outside of the mainframe market. AutoCad and CADKEY. CADKEY required a Dongle that you plugged into the back of your PC.  Making a pirate dongle was well beyond the ken of most college kids. But AutoCad was simple: Make a copy and away you go.    Meanwhile AutoCad was making itself into a package that simply did not translate well to other platforms trapping users in to it  unless they were willing to unlearn a very great deal .

Meanwhile rumors spread like wildfire that AutoDesk would sue the living hooliewoolies out of any one caught with a pirate copy and pay generous bounties to whistle blowers.
I don't think AutoDesk actually sued anyone and I know for a fact that they were not paying bounties - they told me. But the rumors were out there with legs.

So a gozillion college kids were working with AutoCad for free and when they got into jobs  you can pretty much guess what software they preferred.
It's the same trick that Apple used.  Go after them while they are still children.

TC is very difficult for people to pirate. ERGO there is no great groundswell of children coming out of  engineering schools all primed and ready to demand it.

My niece was supervised onto Facebook by her highly computer literate mother ensuring that all the highest security levels were taken on board. Her account was hacked, her password changed so that she could not get access and then the hacker started imitating her to get her friends to "allow her to use their parent's shopping accounts so that she could buy her own mother a surprise." He/she then tried to get them to give over eBay and other financial account information. Facebook were hostile and unco-operative in sorting things out which took some considerable time. That is why I am not and shall not be going onto Facebook. If your business depends on intellectual property then be aware of the back door this will open up to your valuable assets.

I also agree that this is a severely retrograde step and will dilute the knowledge base on what is one of the highest standards of a technical site that I have participated in.

Today, Facebook has admitted a similar hacking attack to that experienced by twitter, last June LinkedIn had 6.5 MILLION passwords stolen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/facebook-employees-laptop_n_2697599.html

TurboCAD, please be very wary of the threat that these sites pose and TurboCAd'ers, please, please be careful especially if your PC's or laptops have commercially sensitive data or intellectual property stored on them. At least make sure that you have a quality anti virus software installed and continuously updated, that is as good a defence as you can get for now. Use separate computers if possible for the "social network" sites and do not allow your staff to use primary computers for anything other than your business.

Turbocad on Facebook but almost no post, why not post everyday tips and instructions how to use?

Added TurboCAD 21 to Linkedin